US asylum fraud: This time, Mexico is not to blame

Asylum fraud cases are often overlooked by the media; however, they pose a great threat to America’s immigration system.

When it comes to immigration in the United States, all the focus typically migrates to the US-Mexico border.

However, the case of a Philadelphia man named David Lynn highlights how fraudulent asylum claims can clog up the system, leaving those with legitimate claims having to wait longer to learn if they can legally remain in the United States.

Lynn and his co-conspirators filed 380 fraudulent asylum applications over the course of four years. The six defendants collected more than three million dollars in fraud proceeds, including half a million dollars in cash found under the floorboards in Lynn’s home.

According to defense attorney Jeffrey Miller, “There’s a great incentive to charlatans, crooks, or whatever you wanna call them who say I’m gonna take advantage of this program…and one of the things that’s done is that there’s a great conspiratorial nature of people to try to take advantage of programs that the government gives out.”

Although an entire fraud detection and national security division is in place to monitor the system, this case demonstrated the harm in having an immigration system that is often all too easy to take advantage of.